CAT 2026 will be conducted in three slots on 29 November 2026. The morning slot, the afternoon slot, and the evening slot will have different papers. These papers will have different difficulty levels. A student in the morning slot who scores 120 out of 198 is not automatically at the same percentile as a student in the evening slot who also scores 120.

This is why normalisation exists. Understanding how it works changes how you set your preparation targets.

What normalisation is

Normalisation adjusts your raw score to account for the difficulty of the slot you appeared in. If the morning slot was harder than the evening slot, morning slot students get an upward adjustment. If the evening slot was easier, evening slot students get a downward adjustment.

The IIMs use a statistical process called equipercentile normalisation. The process maps the score distributions of all three slots onto a common scale. A student at the 90th percentile in the morning slot will end up at roughly the 90th percentile in the final normalised score, regardless of their raw marks.

What this means for your preparation

It means your target should be a percentile, not a raw score. Targeting "150 marks" is less useful than targeting "99 percentile" because the raw marks required for any given percentile vary by slot difficulty.

It also means you should not panic if your raw score seems low after the exam. Students who appeared in difficult slots routinely end up with higher percentiles than their raw scores suggest.

Target a percentile. Let the normalisation handle the rest.

How percentile is calculated

Your percentile is calculated as follows. If you scored more than 95 out of every 100 students who took the exam, your percentile is 95. The formula is straightforward. Percentile equals 100 multiplied by the number of students who scored less than you, divided by the total number of students.

CAT 2025 had approximately 3.3 lakh candidates appear. A 99 percentile means roughly 3,300 students scored more than you. A 99.9 percentile means roughly 330 students scored more than you.

Section-wise percentile vs overall percentile

IIMs use section-wise percentile cutoffs as well as overall percentile cutoffs for shortlisting. Being 99 overall but 85 in VARC will result in rejection at most IIMs despite the high overall score. Section-wise percentile cutoffs at the older IIMs typically range from 70 to 85 per section depending on the institute.

This means a student who is very strong in QA and weak in VARC needs to invest heavily in VARC, not because they need a high VARC percentile but because they need to cross the section-wise cutoff. A 75 VARC percentile with a 99.5 overall is worth more to an IIM shortlisting committee than a 99 VARC with a 97 overall.

Scaled scores vs raw scores

After normalisation, the IIMs work with scaled scores rather than raw scores. The scaled score is the number you will see on your CAT scorecard. It will not match your raw marks from the exam. This is normal and expected. The scaled score is the meaningful number for admissions purposes.

A practical note. Students who appeared in slots they perceived as difficult should not draw conclusions about their likely percentile until the official scorecard. Multiple students every year are pleasantly surprised by their normalised scores after a difficult-feeling exam.

Target the right percentile with ALP Sir

CATalysis covers mock analysis, section-wise strategy, and percentile targeting as part of the structured preparation.

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